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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22874296">Something I Cannot Grasp</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashunera/pseuds/Ashunera'>Ashunera</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types, Wiedźmin | The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Internalized Homophobia, Mermaids</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 08:16:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>987</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22874296</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashunera/pseuds/Ashunera</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A mermaid meets trobairitz by the sea one afternoon.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Essi Daven/Sh'eenaz (The Witcher)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Something I Cannot Grasp</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>"And what do you associate with the sea, Essi?" [Geralt asked].<br/>"With constant movement," she answered after a pause. "With change. And with riddles, with mystery, with something I cannot grasp, which I might be able to describe in a thousand poems, never actually reaching the core, the heart of the matter. Yes, that's it."<br/>-A Little Sacrifice, Andrzej Sapkowski</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Essi Daven sat on a rocky seashore in a secluded area between two larger sea-worn boulders, plucking her lute idly. The salty breeze made her curly hair twist and fall in her face more than it usually did, but she did not tie it back. It was annoying, but she had an image to build as a newly graduated trobairitz. If anyone should happen upon her, she should be recognizable by her clothes and hair.</p><p>	She was sitting by the sea because she had heard rumors that the local lord was pursuing a romance with a mermaid. She had hoped to catch them to ask if she could write a ballad to their love and to their happiness. Although with the tide so far in she thought that had missed her chance for the day. She could choose to write it based on nothing but hearsay, as some poets might, but she found that her writing was always better when she could draw from reality.</p><p>	Before long she had begun composing the tune that she would likely set her future ballad to, fingers picking expertly across the strings. So caught up was she in her rapidly evolving tune that it took her several minutes to notice her audience.</p><p>	Essi’s fingers froze and her jaw went slack. The mermaid was as beautiful as the rumors had made her out to be. Her dark green hair sparkled in the sunlight, silver scales flashing beneath the waves. And, Essi noticed, with something between interest and embarrassment, both her lips and nipples were green.</p><p>	She felt a little shy at staring at the mermaid so openly, but beauty such as hers should not go unadmired. And it was hard to be bashful when the mermaid was looking back with equal curiosity.</p><p>	“Please,” the mermaid said in the Elder Speech, “Little human, don’t stop playing on my account.” </p><p>	“I am flattered to be able to draw an audience from the sea, lady mermaid! I am Essi Daven, a poet,” she said back in the same tongue. Essi felt extremely vindicated in that moment for choosing to study Elder Speech instead of a human language at Oxenfort.</p><p>	The mermaid laughed with delight. </p><p>	“How gorgeous! You know our tongue! You astonish me, you humans. Sometimes I think not nearly as much divides us as people say. I am Sh’eenaz.”</p><p>	“Stay and listen then, Sh’eenaz! I will give a performance, just for you.”</p><p>	The mermaid pulled herself up onto a rock to anchor herself in place. Essi noticed that the scales on her belly seemed unusually scraped up, as if she did this reguarly. </p><p>	Ah, Essi thought to herself, So this truly is Duke Agloval’s mysterious mermaid lover.</p><p>	She settled her lute in her lap again and began to sing, delighted at the joy that Sh’eenaz seemed to derive from her tunes. The mermaid smiled, slapped the water with her hands, and even joined in for a few lines of a song with a repeating chorus. Essi could have played for hours, she thought, but only a half-hour in, Sh’eenaz stopped her and slipped back into the deeper water.</p><p>	“My scales are drying out too much,” Sh’eenaz said, looking apologetic. “I truly do delight in your music. But I need to get out of the shallows for a while, poet. I do so enjoy being able to talk to one of you humans.”</p><p>	Despite her words, she seemed to be in no hurry to leave.</p><p>	Essi blinked in confusion and said, “You’ve been seeing Duke Agloval for months, but haven’t learned each other’s languages?”</p><p>	“We understand each other fine,” Sh’eenaz said, smiling suggestively. Essi’s neck grew hot as she imagined the mermaid before her.... understanding many things. Lost in embarassment, Essi didn’t notice Sh’eenaz pulling herself closer along the rocks until the mermaid was practically next to her, looking at her appearance intently.</p><p>	“Say, do many humans have eyes like yours? Yours look like they’re filled with stars.”</p><p>	“People call me Little Eye,” Essi said, shaking her head. Sh’eenaz’s eyes were dark, like a seal’s. It might have been off-putting to some people, but Essi thought it made her look even more beautiful. They complimented the dark green flush of her lips.</p><p>	She wasn’t sure which of them leaned forward first.</p><p>	It was at first a soft touch of lips, fleeting and sweet. Then it became something more eager. Essi wanted nothing more than to set her lute aside and bring her hands to the mermaid’s face, to touch her strong arms and beautiful bare breasts. But as it was, she was thankful for the barrier between them. It meant neither of them could do something truly stupid.</p><p>	When they parted, the two women stared at each other, both a little dazed. </p><p>	Sh’eenaz flushed dark green and flipped herself back into the water with a sudden, powerful jump. Swimming about in unhappy circles, she seemed to be talking to herself more than to Essi.</p><p>	“I... I’m a normal, healthy mermaid! I’m no longer a girl who can pursue frivolities with my girlfriends! It’s why I have chosen to pursue my man on the shore. One day, he will love me enough that I can ask him to trade in his legs for a handsome tail. But... not yet.”</p><p>	Essi wondered about that. Essi wondered why the mermaid had invested so much time in a human man that she couldn’t even hold a conversation with. A relationship that, unless some very complicated magic got involved, could not be consummated. Essi wondered, but did not voice these thoughts. She strapped her lute to her back and called out in the Elder Speech again.</p><p>	“I plan to stay by the coast a while, Sh’eenaz. I hope to sing for you again.”</p><p>	Sh’eenaz looked at her, still a little flustered. But her melodious voice was warm when she replied.</p><p>	“And I hope, star-eyed poet, that I may listen again.”</p>
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